The Concept or the Number:Problems of Scale, Precision,

Visualization, and Communication

Robert W. BuddemeierUniversity of Kansas

Bruce A. MaxwellSwarthmore College

Jeremy D. BartleyUniversity of Kansas

A presentation based on results of the IGBP-LOICZ Coastal Biogeochemistry Project and the ‘Biogeoginformatics of the Hexacorallia’ (OBIS) Project – Support by NSF OCE 00-03970, DEB95-21819, DEB 99-78106 and LOICZ/UNEP/GEF

Biogeography and Biogeochemistry

• Concepts – taxon, habitat, ecosystem, relationships (genetic or functional)

• Numbers – biomass, population, coordinates (x,y,z,t), environmental parameters (T, S, light, chemistry, physical energy)

• Numbers may describe, explain, or correlate with Concepts – if their selection and application is conceptually consistent

INFORMATION is the critical link between DATA and KNOWLEDGE

Biogeography and Biogeochemistry

• Are intrinsically multivariable phenomena– single parameter control or description is approximate at best, misleading at worst.

• Are intrinsically multiscale – 4-dimensional aggregate distributions are represented by or inferred from (imprecise) individual point observations.

• Are intrinsically multidisciplinary, encompassing a wide variety of questions, issues, techniques, and environments.

What is needed to generate common approaches and information resources for matching concepts and numbers– or is it possible?

An example of technology transfer and integration – and an illustration of issues and needs:

The environmental database, tools, and experience developed in and for the LOICZ Biogeochemistry program ----

--- has been combined with the taxonomic biogeographic database structure developed with NSF-PEET support to create the NSF-funded OBIS project, “Biogeoinformatics of the Hexacorallia”

Similarity of needs, issues, and users permits rapid progress without wheel reinvention

The LOICZ objective – assess global coastal zone CNP fluxes by upscaling classes of coastal biogeochemical budgets

Early 2002: ~200 standardized coastal budgets – collected from and prepared by the international community

Primary upscaling tools – LOICZView Geospatial clustering and the LOICZ/Hexacoral Environmental Database (posters: OS42C)

Biogeochemistry: data users and stakeholders

Disciplinary scientists and environmental managers

•Are generally acutely interested in the nature and quality of the primary data and the availability of supporting (e.g., environmental/climatic) information AND

•Commonly have relatively little interest or skill in searching for, processing, and critically interpreting datasets outside of their primary fields of training/interest.

There is a widespread and critical need for convenient, consistent access to environmental INFORMATION to support interpretation of primary biological/chemical data

Biogeography: same story!

The approach evolved by LOICZ ---

•Standardized tools and information to explain goals and benefits and make diverse existing datasets intercomparable

•Internet-based access to the background information, tutorials, tools, and results

•A series of workshops (with UNEP/GEF funding) to enlist and train users and contributors, acquire data, and develop products, and test/refine tools and approaches

An environmental database that provides easy visualization, manipulation, acquisition and analysis of multiple relevant variables presented in a consistent format on a global scale

Scale (30’) and detailed contents represent compromises in the interests of global coverage, ease of use, and provision off integrated capabilities.

Envirodatabase ---- Oracle/Coldfusion

A single data table with auxiliary label and management tables.

World gridded into 259,200 half-degree cells – Inland, Terrestrial CZ, Coastal (shoreline), Ocean-I CZ, Ocean-II, Ocean-III.

219 variables, of which 92 are “selected” – oceanic, atmospheric, geomorphic, terrestrial, ‘human dimension,’ special applications.

Relevant features:

•Selectable geographic regions, • Can accommodate occurrence data directly, • Responds to occurrence locations, • Internet links to and from external applications (OBIS, others), • Extensive and growing inventory of data characterization/manipulation tools

Envirodata access:

Select region by lat-long values or predefined zone; select cell type

Select variables by class,cell type, with access to variable and source metadata – cell-level measures of spatial and temporal variability are included

Selected data can be reviewed, filtered, edited, transformed, statistically analyzed, downloaded, or sent to the clustering site.

Review and adaptation ---

ExampleFor a selected variable (here, SeaWifs ocean color -- chlorophyl-a band) and geographic region, cell-based summary statistics and a user-controlled histogram display provide non-spatial data visualization, and permit testing the effects of data transforms.

Also available – multi-variable correlation matrix, scatterplots.

Lessons learned from LOICZ and early Hexacoral – needs and priorities

1. The user interface is of paramount importance; the finest data in the world are useless if people cannot readily access them, understand them, and adapt them to their individual needs.

• User community -- identify and develop• User testing and feedback• User support with ultimate participation

2. The geographic and environmental context is what people want to know about and use; why else do we georeference?

• Resolution, precision, and accuracy (reliability) are among the most important information to convey about records – these must be quantified or classified, not edited out of existence.

• Users will inevitably want to manipulate and apply data in unforeseen ways – complete access combined with convenient tools for visualization and manipulation are the keys to a successful information facility.

Hexacorals – examples of biogeographic applications

Sessile benthic organisms, many with long life spans and infrequent recruitment

Extreme scarcity of authoritative identifications and accurate position reports

No realistic hope of remote identification or even (in most cases) detection

-- characteristics shared with many marine invertebrates

“New knowledge” will come from combination and analysis of existing information – linking other biological and environmental information (the OBIS approach)

Search includes all synonyms;Considers only georeferenced entries

A data summary over all cells containing a taxon record and the specified data (null values are dropped) is returned

Linking ‘bio’ and ‘enviro’ data within “Hexacorals” and with external clients (e.g., Cephbase) see alsoposter session OS42C

Biogeography: issues of scale and data *see also posters OS42C-139, 140, 141

The example of Macrodactyla doreensis (a tropical sea anemone with fish and algal symbionts)

• Immediate questions – when and where were they observed? What were conditions (environment, ecosystem) then/there? How well do we know?

• Extended questions (temporal scale) – what “conditions” are important? (the organisms have decade-century lifespans, so variability and extreme events are as important as averages and point measurements)

-- How have conditions changed? (occurrence reports span ~170 years!)

Macrodactyla doreensis – sparse distributional data

Point occurrence data convey very different impressions and types of information than do generalized range maps

Real Biogeography – Range, distribution controls

• Geographic circumscription provides a visual clue – but not much more

• What are the features common to the observed sites? (requires common, consistent database and/or working with incomplete data)

• What are the biological associations? Connectivity? (requires multiparameter models, visualization – the OBIS interoperability domain)

• Where else might they be found? (do we want to maximize search success or minimize exclusion?)

• Data verification – bathymetry tests locational precision, since photosymbionts limit depth to <~30 m

Informatics --Lessons (often obvious in the abstract)

Learned (usually over and over)

• Appropriate questions and achievable answers change with scale -- often dramatically

• The best is the enemy of the good: deferring answers to the next generation is easy – getting useful results with available tools and information is more of a challenge

• Uncertainty (accuracy/precision) is an essential consideration, not a dirty little secret

• If you can’t see it, it’s hard to talk about it

Common, accessible resources and tools may meet nobody’s highest standards, but are essential to shared progress in a larger community

Please join us at poster session OS42C – posters, on-line demonstrations, and a chance to ask, answer, or share.

OBIS ---Is a federation of cooperators – anyone with a georeferenced, species-level database is welcome (urged!) to participate

Will be the topic of a future NAS workshop – to further a US National program

Invites feedback from the community (potential users and contributors)